I had surgery in a hospital in Illinois back in January 2007. At the time, I was insured, while working for a contract company. After the surgery, I received more than a thousand dollars in bills from the doctor, the hospital, and the anesthesiologist service. Yesterday, March 27, 2009, I received a phone call from an anesthesiologist office saying that they had pursued the insurance company, but failed to receive a payment from them. That they had found "my" bill when they were going through cleanup. The bill is almost a thousand dollars. I am no longer insured and I no longer work with the same company that I worked for back in April 2007. I don't have that kind of money. I have never received anything in the mail or a phone call stating that I owed anyone more than what I had paid originally for the surgery. What are my rights for paying a bill that I honestly did not know existed?
Please help. Is there anything I can do to avoid paying and to keep any of this off my credit report?